We were gone for just over 100 nights.
...And we stayed with friends and family
50 nights! Thank you!!
The hospitality was amazing. We stayed with friends that we haven't talked to in years. We got to visit some home towns that we would never otherwise visit. We called up relatives on a half hour notice, and they welcomed us into their homes.
Our hosts were one of the biggest highlights of the trip. It was truly a pleasure to visit so many nice folks. We even met new friends on the road that offered us their homes when we came through town.
Some people were constantly surprised that we had so many contacts spread out all over the country. They would ask, "You really know someone in Albuquerque?" Yep. Columbia, Missouri? Yep. Bath, Maine? Yep. Minneapolis? Yep. Seattle? Yep. Dayton? Yep. San Diego? Yep. Yep. Yep!
The whole experience was incredibly humbling and made us thankful to know so many good people all over this great country.
When we weren't staying in YOUR house, we were camping most of the time. We camped almost
30 nights! That's definitely more camping than I've done in my entire life combined! We never camped just for the sake of camping -- almost every night we camped was in a National Park. And we are now VERY good at setting up and breaking down the tent:) And after that first night in Kentucky, we never left trash outside again. Thank god we learned our lesson before we got to bear country!
Our last option was staying in a hotel, which we had to do about 20 times. At times, however, we had long stretches without needing a hotel at all. In fact, during the entire month of August, we stayed in a hotel just 3 times, and that hardly counts because it was in Vegas!
Anyway, a huge thanks to all of our hosts, and the even bigger number of folks that offered to take us in. Thank you!! You're always welcome in Virginia!
